Willis Breazeal Sparks

Willis Breazeal Sparks

• Father: Ovid Garten Sparks b. December 1813, d. 30 October 1900
• Mother: Josephine V. Breazeal b. February 1833, d. 8 May 1915

• Willis Breazeal Sparks was born on 23 January 1855 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia.
• Ovid Garten Sparks and Josephine V. Breazeal appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Other members of the household included Willis Breazeal Sparks, Sarah Hardeman Sparks and Harriet J. Sparks.
• Ovid Garten Sparks and Josephine V. Breazeal appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Other members of the household included Willis Breazeal Sparks, Sarah Hardeman Sparks, Harriet J. Sparks, Ovid Garten Sparks Jr. and Mittie Sparks.
• Ovid Garten Sparks and Josephine V. Breazeal appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, at 86 Washington Avenue. Other members of the household included Willis Breazeal Sparks, Sarah Hardeman Sparks, Harriet J. Sparks, Ovid Garten Sparks Jr. and Robert Love Sparks.
• He was a cotton factor, according to the 1880 census.
• He married Mary Louise Bacon circa 1892.
• Willis Breazeal Sparks and Mary Louise Bacon appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Other members of the household included Augustus Octavius Bacon Sparks, Willis Breazeal Sparks Jr. and Virginia Lamar Sparks.
• Willis Breazeal Sparks and Mary Louise Bacon appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Other members of the household included Augustus Octavius Bacon Sparks, Willis Breazeal Sparks Jr., Virginia Lamar Sparks and Marion Garten Sparks.
• The following appeared on 9 May 1915 in The Macon Daily Telegraph: Mrs. Josephine V. Sparks, widow of the late O. G. Sparks and one of the most esteemed women of Macon, died yesterday morning at her late home, 544 Washington avenue, after an extended illness. Members of the family were at the bedside when she breathed her last. She was 82 years old.
       Mrs. Sparks is survived by three sons, Willis B. Sparks and Robert L. Sparks, two of Macon's best known business men, and Ovid G. Sparks, of Dublin; two daughters, Mrs. A. E. Vickers of Headland, Ala., and Miss Hattie J. Sparks, of Macon. Eleven grandchildren also survive her.
       Mrs. Sparks was born in Burke county, February, 1833. Before her marriage she was Miss Josephine Braezeal [sic], and a descendant from one of the first families of Burke county. She was married to the late Ovid G. Sparks in the year 1854 and had lived in Macon the greater part of her life. She was educated at Wesleyan college and was one of its first graduates. Her death is especially deplored by the older citizens of Macon.
       The funeral will be held from her late residence this morning at 10 o'clock. Rev. W. N. Ainsworth, pastor of the Mulberry Street Methodist church will conduct the funeral service. Interment will be in Rose Hill cemetery.
• The following appeared on 1 August 1919 in The Macon Daily Telegraph: (Dublin, July 31) An important case involving a number of Macon parties has just been decided in Laurens Superior Court by Judge J. L. Kent directing a verdict against four of the plaintiffs and for one of them, a minor. The case involves a deal in Laurens county farm land.
       Suit was brought by the heirs of Mrs. David [sic] Sparks, of Macon, to recover 100 acres of land which had been sold for her by W. B. Sparks, acting as trustee, several years ago. Mrs. Sparks inherited the land from her grandfather, and at her death it was to go to her children living at that time. She died a year or two since, and her children brought suit to recover the land alleging that the legal process granting W. B. Sparks the authority to sell was irregular and not binding. The heirs bringing suit were Robert L. Sparks, W. B. Sparks, R. L. Sparks, Miss Hattie Sparks, Miss Martha Sparks, all of Macon.
       It was held by Judge Kent, in the trial of the case, that the legal process under which the land was sold was plainly irregular, and for that cause was not binding. Three of the heirs, however, who had attained their majority, agreed to the sale, and the late Ovid G. Sparks, of Macon, also well known in Dublin, signed one of the deeds as witness after he had attained his majority, but was a minor at the time the sale was consummated. All of these, it was held, had voluntarily forfeited their rights in the land, but Robert L. Sparks, who is yet a minor, had not forfeited his rights, because he was not of age to sanction any such sale, and was therefore entitled to recover one-fifth undivided interest in 100 acres of land, also rents amounting to $140.
       The case will be carried to the Supreme Court on appeal by the plaintiff, J. D. Moore, of Macon. W. J. Wallace, of Soperton, and I. N. Eubanks, of Dublin, represented the plaintiffs, while Judge J. K. Hines, of Atlanta, Judge ? S. Adams, of Dublin, and M. H. Blackshear, of Dublin, represented the defendants.
• Willis Breazeal Sparks and Mary Louise Bacon appeared in the US federal census of 1 January 1920 in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, at 468 College Street. Other members of the household included Willis Breazeal Sparks Jr., Virginia Lamar Sparks and Marion Garten Sparks.
• He was a planter, according to the 1920 census.
• Willis Breazeal Sparks died on 7 August 1943 at age 88 in Bibb County, Georgia.
• His wife Mary Louise Bacon became a widow at his death.
• He was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia.

• Last Edited: 30 Apr 2011

• Charts: Descendants of WOOD William & Lydia Ballentine